30 days of butterflies
Thank you Stephanie for giving me the final push to start sharing my artwork on Instagram! I've felt a huge barrier to share my work online, as I'm still very much exploring different styles and techniques. But your story showed my that I don't have to have it all figured out yet and that a drawing challenge can help me further develop my skills and style.
As I'm the kind of person who tends to overthink, I'm going to keep my first online drawing challenge fun and easy. I'm going to draw 30 butterflies (#30butterflies).
My goals:
- To become more comfortable sharing my work online
- To have fun and silence my inner critic
- To explore different techniques and styles
Time Frame: 30 days, but for me these don't have to be consecutive days. I'm aiming for creating and posting 5/7 days in order to keep myself motivated when life happens and I miss a day. I will spend at least 30 minutes a day on the challenge.
The plan: I'm completely new to Instagram, so after setting up my account I have to figure out how it all works. And I will collect some reference materials to inspire my butterflies.
Social sharing plan: I will share the butterflies on my Instagram account and I will also post regular updates here on this Skillshare project.
So let's begin!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
An intricate design on the wings. Took me quite a while to ink. And I need some more practice painting flowers. For tomorrow I plan on doing something more quick and dirty. Maybe just a pencil sketch or something.
Day 5
Butterfly 3 & 4 took me quite some time to complete, so for day 5 I chose to do something quick and dirty. My toddler wanted to paint. I decided to join her and play around with my own watercolors.
For me it is important to post little doodles like this one, because not every attempt at a butterfly will be a great piece of work. There will be some play, doodles, sketches, some experiments gone wrong, and eventually a few lovely drawings. I want to show all of it to take the pressure of being perfect. Perfectionism has been an excellent artistic block for me in the past and I felt it sneeking up on me again. Best antidote is to be like my toddler and just have fun putting marks on paper.
Day 6
Today I felt like studying the movements of the butterfly. First I wanted to leave it as a pencil sketch, but it seemed too bleak. So I added watercolor to create some more interest and depth in the drawing.
Before this drawing I've never given much thought to how a butterfly moves, but it is actually quite interesting how the body curves and can add expression to the drawing. I'll try some more poses in the next days.
Day 7
The lifecycle of a butterfly. I started this one by colouring the 6 background squares without having a clear idea how to fill them. I like the idea of an inkdrawing on a colourful background, but here I feel that the vibrant ecoline backgrounds are fighting with the ink. I would love to revisit the lifecycle stages again with a different aproach and a little more planning.
Day 8
As my project progresses, I've decided to cut down on the number of butterflies I'll post in a single week. I like creating these little butterflies, but I want this to be fun. Not like I'm pressuring myself to perform. I like to spend some time on these drawings, in order to explore different techniques. This butterfly is loosely based on the Zentangle technique. I had seen drawings filled with patterns and I thought it would be fun to try it out myself. I like the way this turns out, but I'm not sure how to finish this drawing. To contrast the "controlled" patterns, I feel like filling the other side with an outburst of color. Have to think about this. So to be continued...
Day 9
I bought myself a new Schmincke watercolor set and I had to try it out. This time not a real butterfly, but a locust with interesting wings. I saw this one in the Natuurhistorisch Museum of Rotterdam a few weeks ago and ever since I wanted to make a drawing of it.
Day 10
